Aldo Ciccolini

[Aldo Ciccolini (born August 15, 1925), is a French pianist of Italian origin. He was born in Naples where he began his career playing at the Theater San Carlo at the age of 16. In 1949, he won the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud competition in Paris. He became a French citizen in 1969 and taught at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1970 to 1988, where his students included Akiko Ebi, Gery Moutier, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Artur Pizzaro, Nicholas Angelich.

Ciccolini is a celebrated interpreter and advocate of the piano music of the French composers Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Erik Satie as well as that of less prominent composers such as Deodat de Severac, Jules Massenet, Charles-Valentin Alkan, and Alexis de Castillon. Ciccolini is also known for his playing of the music of Franz Liszt.

On 9 December 1999 Ciccolini celebrated a career in France spanning 50 years with a recital at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris.

From Wikipedia